Sunday, September 25, 2011

xK3y / x360Key / xKey - Review

Preface:

The xK3y (also known as XKey, and x360Key XKey360 known) is the first Optical Disc Drive emulator for the Xbox 360 For the hardware are the guys from the Wiikey team (including Wiikey (Wii), D2Pro (Wii), D2CKey (Wii), HDMIKey (Wii) XenoGC (Gamecube) Qoob Pro (GameCube), Crystal Chip (PS2)) responsible the software comes from the software developer of WODE (Wii Optical Drive emulator) TheArtificer, who is also responsible for other hacks.
It should be mentioned that we have used a beta test of the sample (we have two different revisions) for the review, so if your xK3y slightly different is the fact that we have an earlier beta version of xK3ys.
The functionality is the same for all hardware versions, so do not panic, your xK3y will work just like our beta versions.

[caption id="attachment_491" align="alignnone" width="564" caption="x360key xkey"]x360key xkey[/caption]

hardware:

The hardware looks the currently xK3y Optical Disc Drive emulator for the Xbox 360 its same. I've rarely had as good are hardware processed here, a buddy of mine who has seen the xK3y spoke of advanced alien technology, well, he does not know better, but the hardware can NXP3143 with ARM9 CPU, 32MB RAM, Winbond impressive (Winbond) and Lattice FPGA chip problem in a different universe.
Been all components, including slots and microSD card slot (128MB SD Card for the attached) are outstanding on the very robust and well-made motherboard (xK3y) attached.
Also the display (xK3y remote) with its buttons, USB port for USB hard drives and is the microUSB port for connecting to the motherboard properly.
In hardware there is in any way to challenge anything.
Only the external enclosure for the remote xK3y I do not like quite as well, but this is a question of taste, I personally like the piano-black glossy finish is not so much, but well, as I said, this is a matter of taste.

[caption id="attachment_492" align="alignnone" width="563" caption="xk3y"]xk3y[/caption]

Installation:

The actual installation of xK3y's really damn easy, simply dump the Xbox 360 drive keys could make for some problems, but you will find many references in our forum, tutorials and tools on how to best accomplishes this and we have enough sponsors the xK3y offer including installation and read so the annoying key, what is needed anyway once done for you.
Remember, those who install the xK3y can get, as a rule, to guarantee the installation for which you must no additional hardware or ala Lizard Maximus X360USB Pro use to buy at the xK3y can.
Those who trust themselves to the installation and times in the past will have an Xbox 360 drive flashed cope well with the installation.
After disassembling the Xbox 360 is simply a disk with the usual tools such as Lizard Maximus, X360USB Pro, jungle flasher and / or Pogo Mo Thoin (PMT) method read out, following the then dump on the microSD card as firmware.bin (Xbox Phat 360) or dummy.bin (Xbox 360 slim) of xK3ys copied and inserted the card.

So:

Xbox 360 Slim: sd / dummy.bin
Xbox 360 Phat: sd / firmware.bin

If the read Orignalfirmware with Laufwerkskey on now in the xK3y inserted MicroSD card is simply inserted between the xK3y Xbox 360 motherboard and drive.
Following just the remote is connected to the xK3y xK3y, the xK3y is to avoid short circuits abegeklebt, the console is screwed back together and away you go.
When you screw together to make absolutely sure that you are not too strong on the xK3y expresses the xK3y sits behind the drive and there is due to the size of xK3ys not very much space, if too much pressure or you could versehntlich the sockets on the cable xK3y , turn drive or an Xbox 360 motherboard and thus perhaps a bit to destroy one of the components.
Even the Xbox case should be assembled carefully, that it is something under tension is not too bad, but you should not try to assemble the Xbox 360 Case with violence.

Short Note: Should you get the error E64 or should not xK3y work properly, first check the SD card or its data (rootfs and uImage).
Can extract the microSD card on your PC please be careful, your best from them "safely remove hardware" using Windows.

[caption id="attachment_493" align="alignnone" width="567" caption="xkey xk3y"]xkey xk3y[/caption]

Navigation / menu system:

The menu is compared to WODE is many times clearer and is limited to the bare minimum which is sufficient in my opinion completely.
Navigation is confirmed by the upper and lower button on the remote xK3y, is with the middle button.
If you want to back out of the directory, press the center button just einwenig longer.
Navigation is simple, clear and fast.

The menu structure members are as follows:

emulation:

Select Game (this is where the hard drive and then selected the game, more on that later)

  • About xK3y (information about the xK3y)
  • App: XX.XX (version of your software, so uImage and rootfs)
  • FPGA: XX.XX (FPGA version info)
  • Drive: XXXXXX (information about the drive in the Xbox 360 built)
  • Tray (shows the drive status years old)
Passthru:
  • About xK3y (see above)
 
  • Tray (see above)
[caption id="attachment_494" align="alignnone" width="567" caption="xk3y x360key"]xk3y x360key[/caption]

Emulation Mode & Passthru Mode:

After successful installation you can start right xK3y and fill the hard drive backed up Xbox 360 and Xbox 1 games. Before we start here is true, however, some information on the two modes of the xK3y brings.
We start with this setting the more interesting mode in which emulation mode.

Emulation Mode:

You start the console with power and already you are in emulation mode. This mode allows you the games through the xKey select Remote from the USB hard drive and start over.

This happens as follows:

1st You start the console with a built xk3y and attached USB hard drive using the Power button
2nd You hit eject on the console to open the drive (tray open state), the drive will not open but
3rd You select the xK3y menu item Select Game disk, which can sometimes take a few seconds, do not panic, this is due to your hard drive, just drives the need to turn off automatically when you first start a few seconds, HDD Connected is on display, it can start with the selection of the game.
4th Your confirmed the game what you want to start with the middle button on the remote xK3y / remote and then press the eject button again on the Xbox 360 console.
5th If the game does not start automatically, because the automatic start of games in the Xbox 360 Dashboard has been disabled so you must manually with the Xbox 360 controller make the Diskicon on the dashboard.

Failed AP2.5 should be on the screen you should update the firmware xK3y copy or dae.bin in the Games folder, with the latter not at all likely within the next few days, more is needed, which means that firmware update should submit xK3y.
If this does not help, then you have the create the backup probably made a mistake.
Problem solving would be a review of the ISO with ABGX.

Passthru Mode:

To disable the xK3y or the Xbox 360 drive will need to use quite normal as the Passthru mode. This is enabled at startup via Ejectbutton.
The Passthru mode disables the use of the orignal xK3y and Xbox 360 games will be made possible. Say, you can access your discs you've previously stored on the HDD start over again drive.
To which the safe use of Xbox Live mid Passthru mode is guaranteed, with the timing of the drive by means of hardware / software combination is certainly easier to configure than software-based solutions such as a hacked firmware, which means that even the emulation mode is more secure with reasonable certainty as use a hacked DVD-ROM firmware, which is ultimately the matter, because one hundred percent safe solution to Xbox Live it will probably be never.
At least not with money-back guarantee!

[caption id="attachment_495" align="alignnone" width="573" caption="x360key xk3y"]x360key xk3y[/caption]

Navigation & Functionality:

The two modes described above, the following passage refers to the emulation mode that is still, as the Passthru mode is nothing more to say.
Xbox 360 and Xbox 1 (when the Xbox 1 emulator for the Xbox 360 supports) Games will be in the folder:

games

lies in the root / main directory of your hard disk as a. ISO file without. DVD File copied.
Who wants to organize its games by genre or alphabet can also do this by the way, that is, sub-folders are also detected within the games folder.

Example:

hdd / games / adventure / assassins_creed_brotherhood.iso
hdd / games / shooter / call_of_duty_black_ops.iso

or

hdd / games / a / assassins_creed_brotherhood.iso
hdd / games / c / call_of_duty_black_ops.iso

Currently the dae.bin is copied into the folder games, but this will probably soon have been changed.
The AP contains dae.bin 2.5 / AP 2.6 Information and should soon be integrated directly into the xk3y firmware, so this eliminates the installation part.
Work to do all Xbox 360 games, including XGD3 (Xbox Game Disc 3), AP 2.5 and multi-disc games. Xbox 1 games have not been tested.
XGD3 & AP 2.5 games are supported and functioning properly.

We tested the following games:

XGD3 Games:
  • Gears of War 3
  • Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine
  • Driver San Francisco
AP 2.5 games:
  • Call of Duty Black Ops
  • Halo Reach
  • Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Multi-disc games:
  • LA Noire
  • Dead Space 2
All games tested worked with the last firmware 1.02 xK3y as mentioned above without any problems, multi-disc games after ejection of the disk drive or Auffoderung change simply re-using the remote xk3y Select Games Auswahlt mounted and you are set to continue.
Please keep in mind that you are patching the games with ABGX360, so the ISO can be properly recognized, which are currently excluded XGD3 games, because they are not yet recognized by ABGX.
Incidentally, the application is as easy as the installation, no joke!
Who uses a USB hub (yes, that works too) should know when selecting the hard drive of course is where that game.
Also remember that some USB hard drives load the USB port and more may not work without additional power source, here is give it thoughtful USB Y cable to remedy this problem.

[caption id="attachment_496" align="alignnone" width="567" caption="xk3y xkey x360key"]xk3y xkey x360key[/caption]

Updates & Recovery:

The updates for the xK3y are fairly easy to accomplish or to install. You simply take the two files rootfs (the Linux root file system) and uImage (the Linux kernel plus initramfs) and copy the two files to the USB hard drive.
If you start now, the Xbox 360 are the new files (rootfs and uImage) mircoSD copied directly to the card's Xkey.
Here is a check of xK3ys, after review and found changes between the files on the SD card and USB hard disk, the data are transferred to the microSD card.
Should something to go wrong, ie, is interrupted during an update, the power of the Xbox 360 can still be repaired via the SD card slot, the software on your PC or reinstall xk3y on the SD card.
If an FPGA Update should be necessary to add new features on the hardware side, the FPGA update is also installed on the USB hard drive.
The FPGA update, read FPGA.VME (uppercase and lowercase letters should not matter).
An FPGA update will take about 50-60 seconds, no matter what needs to be updated, the Xbox 360 has to be restarted after the update once the functionality of the new software is guaranteed or the Xbox 360 works with xK3y decent.
I needed the recovery mode, even after 3 firmware xK3y new updates I've installed perceived three million times to kill the part of a single time
Downgrade is also possible since the investigated xK3y as noted by changes in the firmware on the USB HDD and compares them with the files on the SD card is a downgrade not a problem.

[caption id="attachment_497" align="alignnone" width="570" caption="x360key xkey xk3y"]x360key xkey xk3y[/caption]

Future Features / Support:

About the Update function has been already spoken above, several features should be added via firmware updates and possibly updates to the FPGA.
This is perhaps already known to many, nothing more, despite the cool features we want to mention at this point again, just because some functions are already working at the moment and dives interssant features in any case.

Xbox Live: News xK3y the works already with Xbox Live, the probability that the xK3y Xbox Live is safe or safer than a hacked firmware is also very obvious.
Mentioned above should be clear to everyone that is with a firmware rootkit like the LT + and it works great though, the complexity of a hardware / software solution can never reach.
This is not to say that the iXtreme LT + firmware is bad, only safer than a xK3y is they can not be with absolute certainty that gave us the past proved more than once, this will not change here, no matter who says what, the logic is located on the side of the drive emulators and logic in the CPU's ODDE.
The xK3y can be adapted perfectly to the drive or is the problem xK3y a complete, especially orignals drive dar.
Of course there is no guarantee of a wholly-owned Xbox Live solution, but offers a more simple optical disc drive emulator Anpassungesmöglichleiten without restrictions 256KB of Flash memory.

[caption id="attachment_498" align="alignnone" width="572" caption="xkey xkey"]xkey xkey[/caption]

KeyDump Feature: The xK3y will automatically dump to be able to Laufwerkskey and copy to the SD card, so the purchase of additional hardware, as mentioned already above, will no longer be necessary.
This feature is for many the most interesting, gives an accurate information to implement it until now still not true, however, the Maximus Lizard licensed technology, in how far the whole thing after work without additional hardware remains to be seen as one of the key only even have had this feature is a blessing for those who are the really simple conversion trust myself to cut costs from unnecessary to have been spared for extra hardware (even if the products of Maximus and TeamXecuter very good and commendable, they are for single use in the use of a xK3y's too much of a good thing).

[caption id="attachment_499" align="alignnone" width="566" caption="x360key"]x360key[/caption]

Ripping feature: The Rippingfeature is for many just as interesting as the KeyDump feature. Especially when it comes to their own games without any additional hardware (Samsung drive with Kreon firmware or an Xbox 360 drive with firmware 0800) and is likely to secure further financial issue forward without a lot of users.
This feature is probably far more complex, since all the data to create the backup copy must match the read, here it is, so wait curious how this will be possible without the xK3y 0800 firmware.
The programmer of the WODE Xk3ys was definitely on the right path here and has shown us what a modchip everything, the probability that he has repeated it so right with the xk3y oc

[caption id="attachment_500" align="alignnone" width="567" caption="xk3y xkey x360key"]xk3y xkey x360key[/caption]

Wireless Feature: On the announced wireless feature will have a lot of fun, especially when they xK3y via your web browsers or eventual iPhone / Android app or whatever there is in the works, can control.
The planned Wi-Fi feature has probably the most potential in expanding opportunity, just exactly what is expected from the guys know xk3y team, in any case, we may also be strained.

Multilanguage support: The xK3y will soon be translated into various languages​​, we will take over the German translation for you, that means that people cope with the English did not quite expect to benefit from the xK3y in your own language.
No hammer feature, but customer-friendly and certainly in the Inter-eaters some users.
If the support is just as good as we expected with the xK3y promised something great!




Pro Contra
+ gute Function - more expensive than a firmware flash
+ cooles Display - Games "currently" only about xK3y remote selectable
+ Xbox 360 Games playable on USB HDD - Piano finish on the remote matter of taste
+ Xbox games from USB HDD abspielba - something big, which is a bit annoying when installing
+ updatebar
+ AP2.5 kompatibel
+ XGD3 kompatibel
+ gute Hardware (Winbond, Lattice)
+ Recoverymodus
+ easy installation
+ Xbox LIVE kompatibel
+ hohe compatibility
+ guter Support
+ WLAN Feature in Arbeit
+ Keydumpfeature announced
+ Rippingfeature announced
+ aktueller als iXtreme LT+ Firmware
+ Xbox 360 Slim kompatibel
+ Xbox 360 Phat / Fat kompatibel
Fazit:
The long wait was worth it!
Who wants a well-updatable, future-proof hardware and one of the many users is the place on the Xbox 360 Reset Glitch Hack no great value, but backups use wants to be the x360Key, with which it is possible Xbox from 360 backups from a USB hard drive to start in order to save the drive, original games, and collectors editions warmly recommended. Thanks to really simple use, even inexperienced owners do xk3y definitely nothing wrong, on the contrary, the product works as described by the manufacturer and perfectly simple. The hardware is so good, we think that this is not from this world and the latest updates are better alone even in the beta phase of the product many times as updates of products that are available on the market very long. Anyone who has coped with the slightly longer wait until the actual release of xkey hardware can look forward to some features that were as yet announced at all. In addition to the full XGD3 and AP 2.5 Support is one use that is also capable of Xbox Live and the one with hardware that can be adapted better than a hacked firmware that only the software side is doing your service. If the support from the manufacturer that way, then one with the very good xK3y

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